Usability of Probabilistic Programming Languages
Alan Blackwell‚ Tobias Kohn‚ Martin Erwig‚ Atılım Güneş Baydin‚ Luke Church‚ James Geddes‚ Andy Gordon‚ Maria Gorinova‚ Bradley Gram−Hansen‚ Neil Lawrence‚ Vikash Mansinghka‚ Brooks Paige‚ Tomas Petricek‚ Diana Robinson‚ Advait Sarkar and Oliver Strickson
Abstract
This discussion paper presents a conversation between researchers having active interests in the usability of probabilistic programming languages (PPLs), but coming from a wide range of technical and research perspectives. Although PPL development is currently a vigorous and active research field, there has been very little attention to date to basic questions in the psychology of programming. Relevant issues include mental models associated with Bayesian probability, end-user applications of PPLs, the potential for data-first interaction styles, visualisation of model structure and solver behaviour, and many others. We look forward to further discussion with delegates at the PPIG workshop.